A little ticked off

[The Hikers]

Well, not really, but we were surprised when we got home after bushwacking in our neighborhood woods to find several of the tiny variety of ticks making their way up Joyce's hiking pants. These are the critters that have managed to give me Lyme disease two times now, so I am NOT fond of them. Fortunately Joyce was leading and collected all the ticks.

It's important to remember, 'cause we forgot, that this extraordinary warm weather means that all the nuisance bugs have NOT gone for their Winter's rest.

 

[DSettahr]

Our vet has said that if you have tick collars for dogs, you can take the excess collar (that you cut off when fitting the collar to your dog) and roll it up on the outside (not the inside!) of your socks while hiking. Apparently it works pretty well at keeping ticks off. Just make that the collar is rolled up on the outside of your sock and not in contact with your skin.

 

[Peakbagr]

Our vet said that the winter temps are not the thing that causes the ticks to be dormant, its snow cover. She said that warm temps often mean no snow, but that without snow covering the ground, the ticks are pretty much out regardless of the temperatures.
I'm continuing the Advantix medicine for Bookah until real winter arrives.
I had an attached tick 2 weeks ago and had to see the doc, and pulled another off of me 10 days ago that was in the process of digging in.

 

[sardog1]

We have easily had three or four times as many ticks on our dogs since Nov. 1 as we had in all the preceding months in 2009. It is a particularly unpleasant reminder of the absence of snow this late in the year.

 

[audrey]

I continue Leo's Frontline Plus year-round. Like sardog, I've noticed it's worse now than in the summer. This week I picked a couple of the critters off him, and 2 weeks ago on Pawtuckaway Middle Peak there were more than a dozen crawling on us. When I got home there was one already 75% burrowed into the back of my leg.

 

[una_dogger]

The ticks are super bad this year. We found several on Terra early October, and she's Lyme plus Anaplasma positive again.
Switched to K9 Advantix from Frontline at the urging of her vet, he cautions that the attachment time for deer ticks to transmit Anaplasma is currently unknown and K9 Ad repels and kills faster than Frontline.
Shame we have to put these chemicals on our furry friends to protect them from these horrible diseases.

 

[Waumbek]

Yup, same story here.

 

[dangergirl]

I went for a hike behind our house last week and had 3 ticks crawling up my leg! It surprised us too! After dealing with Lyme Disease this summer I am much more afraid of the ticks! I didn't realize that they would be so active so late in the year, but it hasn't been cold and snowy either!

 

[erugs]

Like Dangergirl, having Lyme disease changes one's outlook on the nastiness that ticks can bring to a person. I used to use leaves, when needed, for nose blowing, etc., but will do so no longer. Ticks are out year round. Check yourselves carefully.

I recently learned that using a clothes dryer will kill them. Washing will not. So, especially when I've been in an area known for a higher percentage of deer ticks, from now on I will bag my clothes and use the clothes dryer for them before washing them with my regular clothes. This will be difficult to do because I have been a wooden dryer rack person before this, and the dryer in my condo unit has broken so I must use the larger dryer down the hall in the common area.

Does anyone have any spare quarters?

 

[DougPaul]

I recently learned that using a clothes dryer will kill them. Washing will not. So, especially when I've been in an area known for a higher percentage of deer ticks, from now on I will bag my clothes and use the clothes dryer for them before washing them with my regular clothes.

Try using permethrin on your clothing. I have been using it for years and have had very few problems from ticks. (There are multiple threads on the topic--just search on the word "permethrin".)

DEET on your skin is also supposed to help repel ticks.

Doug